nandovina22

Thank you! No problem on the track day. Once in a while Thunderhill posts days which aren't taken by clubs (mostly weekdays) and we reached out to them. It's not super cheap, around $5K divided amongst 10 people for unlimited track time from 9AM - 5PM. They give you a radio to call in if anything happens and they check in on you every hour or so. We usually ran about a half track length apart to keep a good gap between each other or trade playing follow the leader. Good point on the blind corner but we figured with the large enough gap, there would be enough time for the other car to get out of the way.

nandovina22

(November 2017) Spent two days @ Sonoma with SpeedSF. Highlight was a newly acquired 99'NB one of my friends brought out; after months of convincing him a Miata was the way to go, he pulled the trigger and brought it out. Sonoma had turned into my favorite track at this point and I was able to pull out a new PB of 1:56.7, but sadly no camera to record it.



Stable of Miatas...

Heading down the drag strip

nandovina22

(December 2017) Another Private Track Day - About 10 of my buddies took a Friday off and rented out Thunderhill East for the day. 9AM - 5PM, two cars on track limit. These are starting to become a habit now






Drive by through Turn 10 and 11



To top it all off, a PB of a 2:05.5!

nandovina22

(March 2017) Prepping for a double day at Thunderhill West, I had a chance to install some parts I've been collecting

- JDM Squaretop Intake Manifold (picked up off of ebay)
- Innovate MTX-L A/F Gauge
- MS3 PNP (tuned by Elite Performance in Burlingame)
- LRB Speed Aluminum Door Panels (wrapped in carbon vinyl)
- Advanced Auto Radio Delete Plate
- WIX Fuel Filter (tried my best to not spill so much gas on myself...almost successful)









I ended up bringing my car to Eric @ Elite Performance in Burlingame to installed the MS3 and tune. I'll admit, at first, I was a little disappointed in the numbers when looking back on posts of the obtainable Supermiata formula of 140whp with I/H/E + Megasquirt, but with 130K miles on this motor, I guess E85 down the road will get me closer.

Overall, I've been really happy with the tune so far, throttle response really seemed to pick up and the car definitely has more grunt on low end torque as it climbs up the revs to redline.

emilio700

iTrader: (3)

Don't just throw corn at it. That hardware should make 150whp on pump gas. That motor sounds like it's toast. You should be able to get 128whp on a bone stock NB1 (stock exhaust/intake manifold, airbox) with just an ECU.
Also Dynapacks are typically optimistic. Meaning your Dynojet whp would likely be 122 or so. Full OEM NB1 (49state) make around 120whp.

Leakdown and compression test first.
If any cylinder is past say, 8%, rebuild it. Compression should be at least 165psi.
New will be 0-1% leakdown and around 190psi. If you rebuild, keep CR below 10.2:1 so you can still run pump gas.
Typically motors like yours have worn intake valve seats. Basic OEM head rebuild will often bring it back to around 90% stock power. Rings/ bottom end the last 10%.
80/20 head rebuild is bowl blend and swapping OEM 10.0: NB2 pistons in. Deshroud too if its cheap and your rebuilder know what they are doing. Shave .020 or so to bring actual CR to about 10.2. BP5A cam and you'll be around 158whp on pump gas,
168 on E85.

Make sure base timing is set correctly in MS
Post screen cap of VE table (fuel) and spark advance table

nandovina22

Thanks for all the great advice Emilio and makes sense; 18 track days on what was probably an already tired motor. I won't be back in CA until mid-October so I'll post a screen cap then and what I find with the leakdown and compression test. 20whp more than what I have now sounds amazing!

nigelt

iTrader: (10)

Do you recommend a specific leakdown testing device so that the numbers are comparable?

emilio700

iTrader: (3)

One that works.

I think ours is an OTC but any good gauge will do. Not like a dyno, more like a tire pressure gauge. Don't overthink it. Besides telling you what pressure it holds, it will help identify where the leakage is. Google "leakdown testing".
If you are on a tight budget, you can sometime just do say, a valve job and nothing else to bring it almost back to full power. Other times you have huge leakage everywhere (dipstick, intake manifold, exhaust manifold, PCV) so you know the thing is toast and needs a full rebuild.

ridethecliche

iTrader: (2)

They're not that hard to do. I just did one for the first time and repeated it a few days later to make sure I did it right. My head has slightly leaky exhaust valves. Might address it over the winter, might not. It was cool to do though, especially because it correlated with the cylinder that had the lowest compression and I was relatively sure my rings were decent.

nigelt

iTrader: (10)

I have a gauge and have tested my engine, but I was to understand that it was more for comparison between cylinders, and the numbers themselves we're only useful in absolute terms if you used the same gauge.

Midtenn

iTrader: (15)

Don't get the Harbor Freight leak down tester. It gives inconsistent results and generally sucks. Source 2 out of 2 I've try to use were junk.

nandovina22

So dry compression test results (renting a Leakdown Tester tomorrow):
Cylinder 1: 170
Cylinder 2: 180
Cylinder 3: 170
Cylinder 4: 180

Here are the following from Tunerstudio:

Fuel VE Table


Spark Advance Table


Timing

emilio700

iTrader: (3)

Assuming you have set ignition offset correctly, you're 8~10° shy of what a stock BP4W longblock can run on CA91. It's not boosted so no need to dial back timing past 100kpa. Leaving the default base tune timing table untouched above 100kpa means it interpolates at 100kpa. That means at say 105kpa it's seeing like 20°. Copy whatever values you have at 100kpa to the 150kpa row for N/A. I'd start with 26° at 100kpa and listen for det. Keep adding 1° until you hear det then back off 2.5° and call it a day. If you lose power before you hear det then congratulations, you have reached MBT. Dial back 1~2° from the point where it lost power. We usually get to 30~34° from 5500-7500rpm w/o det on CA91 on stock bottom ends.

The delta between idle/ lean cruise and 100kpa rows is unusually high. You are either lean at cruise or fat at full load. Assuming your idle is close, it would be fat at full load. To be safe, keep it below 12.8 AFR above 85kpa at any rpm on CA91. If you are below say 11.5:1 above 85kpa, you are hurting power.

If you haven't already, select "fixed" in "fixed advance" wheel decoder options. Set at 10° then check with timing light. Adjust offset as necessary. Don't forget to return to "use table".

Also, you can run another 10° timing between 50-65kpa which is cruising. Better economy.

nandovina22

Thanks a lot Emilio, really appreciate the feedback! Compression test got put on the backburner with this very short trip back home so have to wait another month until I can get back to this :( Good news is I have a lot more time to do some reading.